Category: Video Marketing

Going live on Facebook can be a great promotional tool that allows you to really connect with your audience, get their feedback and provide them with important information. Brands use Facebook live to promote events, let customers know about new products or simply give users a behind the scenes view of their business. Marketing with Facebook live can be effective if your live broadcasts are carefully planned, interactive and targeted for maximum effect.

It is important to promote your Facebook live broadcast before it takes place so that you can make sure that people know about it and are more likely to tune in. Your broadcast won’t be useful if no one is watching so make sure to post about the day and time, as well as some highlights about what you will be discussing prior to the event. You can also think about timing the broadcast at a good hour of the day when your target audience will be most likely to tune in.

Your live broadcast will also have more of an impact if you prepare beforehand or even practice what will take place. If you are giving a talk about your company or discussing new products, make sure you have at least a loose script so that you don’t get stuck. You should also make sure you have a good lighting set up and a setting where people will be able to hear you clearly.

Another thing to remember about Facebook live is that people like to interact with you during the video. Make sure to be responsive when people tune in by talking to them, responding to their comments and questions as they come in rather than just performing a long monologue.

After you finish your broadcast, make sure to analyze the results to see what works the best for your audience.

Most businesses have begun to realize how crucial it is to use YouTube as part of a media marketing campaign. In addition to making lots of great video content, incorporating some optimization techniques can make your YouTube videos more effective through greater visibility in a search. SEO strategies can help ensure that your video comes up first, not only in a YouTube search but also through Google and other search engines.

YouTube allows users to manually add their own title, description and tags to make it easier for people to find your content. The first step in optimizing your video is using these options to your advantage so that you increase your visibility through the right keywords. You can use lots of keywords research to make sure you are adding the right terms that focus on user intent and make it more likely for them to find you.

Tags are important because they add keywords to your video and help classify the content. Make sure to only use relevant tags and avoid simply adding popular tags to make your video more visible. Picking the right thumbnail can also be helpful in appealing to users so make sure to pick an interesting image that shows your content is exactly what they are looking for.

Other advanced settings can also help improve visibility such as allowing embedding of your video. If your video can be embedded it means anyone can add it to their website which increases the rate at which it will be shared and viewed. Videos can also include a call to action so that the viewer can continue by clicking through to your website or other content you have created.

Part of optimizing means distributing your content as much as possible so that you can increase views and extend your reach. Make sure to share your videos on all social media to get better results.

2018 is not just an era of videos, but also a more urbane form of the same is popular these days – Live videos. From business and marketing perspective to career and entrepreneurship, live videos are ubiquitously offering the superlative ways to reach a wider audience base. The early adopters took no time to realize that a trending tech like video streaming solution would aid them to achieve a stable hold amongst their audience, ultimately enhancing their economy to the desired levels.

It is being keen-sighted as a chief tool to gain the attention of the impending prospects. Eminently, with a CAGR of 18.3%, the live video streaming has geared itself to grow its market from $30.3 billion (as recorded in 2016) to $70.5 billion in 2021(source).

Enterprise video streaming- growth in several verticals
Currently, the audience for entertainment (53%) majorly consumes the live streaming videos. However, there is no shortage of viewers in other spheres as well: Media (41%), Social Sharing (30%) and Sports events (29%). A recent utilization of live streaming solution by professionals in the education industry has led to an exploding growth of live streaming business in the current scenario.

The major reason for this escalation is the height of engagement offered by different live video streaming platforms in the market. They are continually fulfilling the audience’s desire to see real-time videos and interact with the presenter at the same time. By offering a seamless communication channel with the brands, the Enterprise video market will collectively reach the $41 billion mark by 2022.

What should you expect from a professional video streaming solution?
Being an individual broadcaster, you always have the scope for experiments, and you can try out live streaming on free platforms like Facebook Live or Periscope. However, while perusing live streaming as a profession or when streaming for a brand, you should favorably opt for professional grade solutions.

There are aspects that critically matter when you are a pro live streamer: security of the consumer data, level of personalization for your audience, features for seamless interaction and options to enhance brand visibility. You cannot expect a free platform to fulfill all these aspects on a professional stage.

Top live video streaming solutions

1. Vimeo Live
Vimeo introduced the live streaming capability to its platform after acquiring Livestream in 2017. It offers a professional grade live streaming solution where you can instantly start streaming using a video camera and an RTMP enabled encoder.

It offers some rich and powerful set of features like-

HD video quality for streaming.

White label service for a high-level adaptation to your brand.

High level of customization options for unbroken presentation.

Adaptive bitrate for seamless broadcast across devices and internet speed.

Pricing:
The entry-level pricing for Vimeo Live starts at $75 per month. You can upgrade the plan to Enterprise package ($999/month) that offers advanced features like Advanced Content Access Controls, Dedicated Account Manager, Dedicated Event Support, Branded OTT Apps, and Pay-per-view & Subscriptions.

2. Brightcove
Brightcove has been designed to not just offer a platform for live broadcast but also to focus on video marketing with advanced ways of monetization.

It comes with professional-level features that include-

Video library management.

Server-side ad insertion and analytics for monetization.

HTML5 video player for seamless streaming on mobile devices.

Cloud transcoding for unbroken adaptation across different devices.

CRM integrations for enterprise level streaming management.

Pricing:
The base pricing starts at $199/month. It offers basic video marketing tools and analytics. However, you can switch to Enterprise communication pack at $499/month that offers advanced security features with unlimited viewers onboard.

3. StreamNow
StreamHash started its turnkey live video streaming solution, StreamNow, in 2017. The brand primarily specializes in offering innovative tech in video streaming sphere, helping businesses to get their OTT services up and live instantly. StreamNow is an exceedingly scalable streaming software that offers all the necessities for professional broadcasters. It is a perfect tool for entry-level broadcasters with less technical expertise.

It offers-

Multiple monetization options for the live streams.

You can also host demand videos with host-you-own server product.

White label custom branding for a complete adaption to your brand.

Easy to use dashboard for seamless management of videos and streaming.

Sophisticated tools for customization and interaction during the live streams.

Pricing:
It comes with an aggressive pricing and just a one-time cost with free upgrades and maintenance. You can own the solution with the ‘Deluxe’ plan at $499 and ‘Ultimate’ plan at $999, which also offers mobile streaming on iOS and Android devices.

4. JW player
Began as a video player, JW player has extended the features to support live streaming. With its instant hosting, you quickly stream live events to your audience on any device. It offers a steady viewing capability to users across the platforms supporting HTML5 as well as Flash.

Pricing:
Its premium plans start as low as $50/month offering live streaming and hosting for around 1,500 videos and 150,000 sessions. It also stretches its plans to ‘custom enterprise plans’ for corresponding prices.

5. Bambuser
The Sweden-based live streaming service allows users to create, manage and share live video streams through a centralized dashboard. You can also categorize and store videos for later use, or can instantly host them through RTMP or SDI. It mainly focuses on easy integration, user-friendly tools and uninterrupted streaming with the minimal maintenance and infrastructure required.

It offers the features like-

Built-in Analytics for video performance tracking

Multi-platform broadcast SDK

Internal dashboard for content management

Local parallel recording for retaining the videos after stream.

Managed delivery via CDN network

Mobile apps for media content uploads

Pricing:
The base package costs $39/month. You can use top-ups for more options and extended viewer limits with additional cost.
The medium package is available at $499/month
You can get the large package at $899/month.

PS: Bambuser is at the verge of being replaced by an exclusive mobile streaming solution, Iris, available at $599/month.

Depending on your business’ requirements, the viewer base target, storage, affordability and additional customization options catering to your audience, you can choose among the options as mentioned above.

The content that you write for blogs or post on social media can get more comments, likes and shares if you think of angles that will make people feel involved. This could mean writing about debatable topics or asking for users opinions about things so that they are more likely to chime in. You can ask a question, have people compare two options or open up a friendly non-offensive discussion.

Another strategy to take in order to increase engagement is to use relatable humor, surprising facts or interesting stories to get people to respond to your posts. Content that has these qualities tends to get shared more often because users are hoping to get others to respond. It is a good idea to know your audience and what type of humor or stories will be relatable and interesting to them.

Appealing graphics and images are also a simple way to attract more attention and encourage more engagement with your content. If you are posting a blog then incorporating some infographics, screenshots or images of your products can help illustrate the topic you are discussing. Social media posts with colorful and attractive images tend to get more attention and engagement from followers.

Video can be just as effective a tool as images so make sure to incorporate some short video clips on your blog or social media profile. Using a variety of different strategies to increase engagement can lead to building more popular content online.

Video marketing has become a more integral part of a business’ overall advertising strategy as the popularity of video continues to grow online. People tend to seek out video to find information and also remember video more easily than other types of content. Powerful companies are now using micro-video content to engage users and increase brand recognition.

A micro-video is a essentially a short video clip aimed at retaining people’s attention by keeping the content brief. A micro-video might only be about 15-30 seconds long but contains valuable marketing information that the user is more likely to remember. People will usually watch the whole video, understand the message and be more inclined to engage with your business.

When it comes to creating micro-video content it is important to have a goal in mind such as brand awareness, customer retention or increasing engagement. You can then choose a type of video that will help you reach your goal such as GIF, animated video or simply a short clip. GIFs can be effective for creating something humorous or showcasing products with an eye-catching animation of them.

A video with real footage may be useful in introducing a new product and including important information about it that you want to share. For a real video clip you need to write a script if you plan to have narration or dialogue. In some cases you may just want to use background music along with compelling images and text.

Make sure to use some good quality equipment for your video including a nice camera and audio recording tools. A better quality video is likely to get more engagement especially if it has high quality audio rather than a smartphone microphone. Once you have shot, edited and uploaded your micro-video you can post and promote it on social media where you will start to see more engagement.

Instagram stories are a great way to reach followers with important information or create ads that help increase engagement. There are certain strategies and tools available that can make your instagram stories more effective at building awareness and attracting attention from potential customers. You can use apps to enhance your stories and make them more appealing to followers.

An eye-catching option is to add animated text and creative overlays to your photos and videos using third-party apps like Adobe Spark Post. This is a free design app that allows you to add effects and different types of overlays to your posts to make them animated videos. You can choose from various themes, fonts and colors to create an interesting design that will make your story more memorable.

Another app that can be useful for Instagram stories is the InShot app which helps with sizing issues if you don’t have a vertical video. The free app can convert a video from any type of aspect ratio into the right vertical ratio for stories with background margins that you can customize using different colors or a blurred effect. Other options like PicPlayPost allow you to create vertical collages or vertical slideshows using multiple photos.

There are many options for editing apps that can help you create clips for videos like Videoshop or Filmmaker pro. These apps make it possible to put together multiple clips, resize them, edit them and add text. Video stories with several clips can help businesses communicate more information in one single story.

Enhancing stories with these types of apps can make them look more professional and help you boost engagement with more interesting content. Businesses can benefit from putting some thought and effort into their Instagram stories so that followers look forward to viewing more.

Raw and uncompressed video files can be extremely large, and it isn’t uncommon for HD raw videos to require a few gigabytes for each minute. Needless to say managing files of such sizes isn’t easy, let alone transferring them or uploading them to online servers.

The first thing that you should know is that because uncompressed raw videos are so large – most of the video files that you encounter are probably already compressed in some form or other. However in some cases they may still be too large, and you may want to compress them further to make them more manageable.

If that is your goal, you should start by understanding how the video format affects its compression.

Codecs and Compression

The video codec is the part of its format that determines the compression that it uses – which is why it is important that you know more about it. Some of the more common codecs nowadays include MPEG-4, H.264, and H.265.

Newer codecs tend to have better compression rates than older codecs, and are able to deliver the same quality of video at much smaller file sizes. For example the H.265 codec can reduce the file size of a H.264 video by up to 50% in some cases.

Suffice to say, if your video is in an older codec – you could significantly compress its file size without affecting its quality by transcoding it to a newer codec instead. The one caveat however is that newer codecs are often more limited when it comes to compatibility, so you’ll need to ensure that the device you want to watch the video on supports the codec.

If your video is already encoded in a new codec this may not be an option – but there are other ways to compress videos as well.

Video Bitrate

The video bitrate is literally the amount of data that the video uses each second, and so the video file size is its bitrate multiplied by its duration. By reducing the bitrate you will be able to compress and directly reduce the file size, but at the same time its quality could deteriorate and compression artifacts may appear.

Different videos require different bitrates in order for the video quality to be unaffected, and it varies depending on the resolution and framerate. As an example you could refer to YouTube’s recommended upload settings so you know what to expect.

Assuming you’re willing to compromise the quality of the video slightly however, you can reduce the bitrate to lower than its recommended settings. In short you will want to balance out the video quality against the file size of the video, and find a compromise that satisfies you on both counts.

How to Compress Videos

To start compressing videos using either of the methods described above, you will need software that allows you to convert and transcode videos. Nowadays there are several tools that you can use that range from video converters to specialized video compressors. For example you could try Movavi Video Converter as a place to start.

Typically the first thing that you should do is identify the format (i.e. codec) that the video is using, and determine whether or not transcoding it to a newer codec with better compression is an option. If it isn’t, you can then try lowering the bitrate gradually while observing the affect it has on the video quality.

It should be noted that in some cases you may be able to reduce the file size of your videos through other means – such as by removing any unnecessary parts from the video. While technically that isn’t ‘compressing’ the video, it is an effective option that you should consider.

At the end of the day you should now know everything that you need to in order to compress your videos. All that remains is to try it out – and see how it works in practice.

Live video content has been around for a while but has now been incorporated into a number of different popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Streaming content online is a great way for brands to share meaningful information to users and connect to a larger audience. Including live video broadcasts on these social media sites can make your brand seem more relatable and accessible to potential customers.

The live video features on Facebook and Instagram are useful not only because they reach more people but they also give users a chance to interact with you in real time. People can write comments or ask questions and you can respond as you are seeing them during your live stream. This real time communication can be essential to converting customers and getting people to be more engaged with your brand.

One of the biggest benefits of a live stream is that it can give you a chance to educate users about your brand and what your company is all about. You are able to promote your company in a more personal way and make sure that people are listening and will hear your message. The content can be more rich and entertaining in a way that people will be more inclined to respond.

Live streams are also useful at conveying a sense of urgency to help convert people into becoming paying customers. You can talk to customers about a limited time offer or a particular promotion that you want them to take advantage of during the course of the video. Users might be more interested in converting with the longer and more informational content of live streams rather than a quick ad.

Live streaming allows you to communicate directly to people and the more live stream videos you create, the larger the audience you can reach every time.

Many businesses don’t realize the enormous potential that YouTube can have for marketing online. Having a YouTube channel gives you opportunities to reach a wider audience and communicate directly to customers with information that they value. With compelling content you can increase your viewers, build up your brand and get more people to click through to your website.

The most effective YouTube channels follow a few different strategies in order to get the most out of their video marketing efforts. One thing to focus on is creating a substantial volume of content on your channel so that you can increase your viewership. With only a few videos people might lose interest or not take your brand as seriously.

With increasing volume it is still very important to focus on the quality of the content as you publish on a regular basis. You don’t want to overload people with too much at once, but simply post at regular intervals so that you build up the volume gradually and keep people interested. You can pick a few key areas where you feel that you can provide useful information, entertainment or something of value and create more content within those larger categories.

Another useful strategy on YouTube to get content seen by a wider audience is to collaborate with another brand. Working with someone else who has a similar audience to you can help you get more exposure and they will benefit by getting exposure to your audiences. Collaboration can be an organic way to build viewership and increase your credibility.

One of the most important strategies on YouTube is to create a sense of consistency in your content so that it represents your brand. Posting regularly with a consistent tone and style lets people know who you are and what to expect from your business.

Businesses that have create video advertisements often need an easy way to get more people to view them. YouTube is the perfect place to get millions of users to see your ad and potentially click through to your website. However YouTube ads can be a little different than other types of paid advertising online so it is important to familiarize yourself with the format.

There are two different types of YouTube ads you can purchase for views to see. TrueView ads are a standard video ad on YouTube that viewers can watch and interact with. With these types of ads marketers can choose to only pay for the viewer to see 30 seconds of the video ad and the user has the option to skip the remaining time of the ad after watching 5 seconds. Non-skippable ads are required to be between 15 to 20 seconds in length.

Other YouTube ad types include Video Discovery Ads which can show up on the homepage or in related videos after a YouTube search. If the user clicks on the ad then a companion banner display ad will appear. These displayed ads do not automatically play but need to be clicked on in order for views to see them.

You can set up a YouTube ad through Google Adwords by selecting video ad under the list of campaign options. You can then select the format, the budget and the networks where you want your video to appear. There are also options to target the video for a certain audience to see on YouTube.

It can be difficult to get people to view video ads when it is simply embedded in your homepage or placed in a social media post. YouTube ads are an easy and fast way to get a much bigger audience to see your ad and learn more about your company.